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October 23, 2013

What
is “eternalsecurity” you ask? It
is the belief where it is believed that “once saved always saved.” In plain
words, it is the belief that once you become a Christian that there is nothing
that can alter that fact, and that there is nothing that can keep you out of
Heaven.

A lot
has been written on this subject, both for and against. There has been the
writing of many technical books and articles. These authors use words like
Calvinism and Arminianism to categorize people. Personally I’m not very
interested in what these systems teach or don’t teach. I don’t believe in being
put in a box in this manner. What I’m interested in is in what God has told us
in the Holy Bible, that which He has given to us. Indeed, it is always a
dangerous thing to be a follower of a person. It is much better to be taught of
the Holy Spirit with an open Bible in your hands.

This
article will not so much delve into the solving of every verse and argument
that is so commonly given when it comes to this subject. Rather it will focus
on the heart of the issue at hand. The real matter is not pitted between
Christians who believe in “eternalsecurity”
and Christians who argue that you can “lose your salvation.” No. The issue is
much more serious than that. Instead it boils down to who actually believes the
gospel message as God has presented it in the Bible, and those who don’t
believe that message as true.

The
term “eternalsecurity” is a
cleverly disguised term, and I’m sure Satan is the master planner behind it.
What we’re actually talking about is “everlasting life” or “eternal
life” depending on the translation. The argument really comes down to whether
one can lose “everlasting life” or not. It is a lot easier to reject “eternalsecurity” than it is to reject
“everlasting life”, yet they are in reality referring to one and the same
thing. Because the term “eternalsecurity”
is not a biblical term, a person can say, “I don’t believe it!” However, if we
use the proper term, “eternal life,” then it becomes much
harder to say, “I don’t believe in “eternal life!”” Why
would it be harder? Because it would be an outright rejection of the plainest
of Scripture texts! Indeed “the serpent [is] more crafty than any other beast
of the field that the LORD God had made”! (Genesis 3:1)

So why
does one so often feel frustrated when we are trying to convince someone that
we can be eternally secure and they argue that we can
lose our salvation? It is because they are in unbelief as regards to the gospel
itself. No wonder we can’t convince them – they haven’t even believed the
gospel in the first place!

You
say, “Really, isn’t that a little extreme?” No, I don’t. The remainder of this
article will explain why I believe this way.

The Gospel

This
whole argument really breaks down to those who actually believe the gospel and
those who don’t. There must be a poor understanding of the gospel when one does
not believe in “eternal life”, or else an outright
rejection of the gospel. Now I don’t like the term “eternalsecurity”, so I’m dropping the term for the most part
from here on in and will use the biblical term “eternal
life” instead. So why do people reject the teaching of “eternal
life”?

The
problem is that someplace along the line people have not understood that they are
indeed sinners. A sinner is someone who is a slave to sin and Satan. They fall
far short of God’s holiness as described in the 10 commandments. A person on
their own has no hope of ever being as holy as God, which is necessary to have
a relationship with God. So the question is, “How can we be as perfect as God
so that we can have this relationship?”

Before
we answer that important question, one needs to understand what the “wage” of
sin is, that is, we need to know what the consequence of sin is. The Bible is
very clear that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)This death refers to all its three aspects:
friendship-wise with God, physically, and eternally in the Lake of Fire.

We’ve
already seen that it is impossible for us to live up to the 10 commandments to
become as perfect as God. (Not to mention that it can’t pay for our sins.)
Instead the commandments act like a mirror, revealing that we are sin-stained
sinners. We also know that a mirror makes a pretty lousy washcloth! In fact it
will only make matters much worse if we try using it to clean ourselves up.

The
truth be told, this is why Jesus died. Jesus died, to pay the wage or
consequence of our sin, instead of us. All our sins on Him were laid and He
bore the wrath of God for them. That is why God turned His back on His Son
while He hung upon the cursed tree. Then He said, “It is finished”. (John
19:30) Or, the payment for sin is complete.

We
also know that Jesus paid the penalty for every person that has ever lived. So
why are not all people saved, you ask, if all have had their debt of sin paid
for? Ephesians 2:8-9 gives us the answer – we must believe it. It is
written, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.”

God
has offered us everlasting life. We must believe that Jesus, who is the God-man,
bore this debt for us; that He was my personal Substitute. God promised
us everlasting life if we believe the gospel. Therefore those who
do not believe in “eternalsecurity”,
which is “eternal life”, don’t believe the gospel that
Jesus paid their debt of sin in full. Therefore they don’t have
everlasting life. Therefore they don’t believe in “eternalsecurity”.

The
person who believes we can “lose our salvation” is not trusting in Jesus as
their Savior. Instead they are still trusting in themselves. They
believe that they can lose their salvation when they commit an act of
sin.

Some
believe that any act of sin damns you and you must immediately confess that sin
in order to stay saved, or in reality to get saved again. Others believe it is
only when you commit a “mortal” sin that you lose your salvation. This doctrine
has its roots in the Catholic Church and is a teaching of Satan. Who, I ask, is
the judge in whether a sin is bad enough to damn you? When has a person walked
too far in sin? What is clear is that these people don’t believe their sins are
forgiven. They don’t think Jesus’ statement, “It is finished!” is true. They
have made Jesus into a liar.

Further,
these people think that you remain “in Adam”, that is, not regenerated. For if
one has been “born again”, how can one be unborn? How can a butterfly return to
being a caterpillar once it’s gone through metamorphosis? Impossible! Neither
do they realize that sin is no longer one’s master. We read, “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old HAS passed away; behold, the
new HAS come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Galatians 5:24 and 25 must also be understood: “And those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
[Therefore] we [can]…also walk by the Spirit.” Look, there has taken place a
great change in the true believer. For it is written, “Giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He
has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the
kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins.” (Colossians 1:12-14) It is the “Father, who has
qualified” the believer “to share in the inheritance” – not we by keeping our
lives holy. It is “the Father” who “HAS delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” – not us! (Colossians
1:13) We are NOT our own savior! It is Jesus Christ who is the one and only
Savior! All glory be to Him!

Again,
Jesus offers “everlasting life”. These people think that “everlasting” has an
end. Again, this makes a mockery of what Jesus promised. Thus they join the
crowd at the foot of the cross who mocked the Lord Jesus Christ as He hung
there in His death-throes.

These
people argue that those who believe in “eternal life”
will then go on living in sin because it won’t matter. I ask those who would
have the gall to promote such gibberish, do you really think that a person who
is set free from slavery with all its brutality would want to go and
live under that system again? I think not! Even Paul the apostle anticipates
this response, and writes, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin
that grace may abound? By no means! HOW can we who died to sin still live in
it?” (Romans 6:1-2)

Why do
you think Paul the apostle had to address this very question in Romans? Is it
not because he argued that we are permanently under grace and not law?
Therefore some mockingly said, “Well, then can’t we sin as much as we want?” To
this stupidity Paul answered, “The condemnation of those who think such is
deserved!” (A paraphrase of Romans 3:8 and 6:1-2)

There
are many false teachers today. Some of these false teachers are promoting the
belief that one can lose their salvation. This is damnable heresy. If we can
lose our salvation, then Christ’s work on the cross was insufficient and we
must earn our way to Heaven. If Christ’s work is insufficient then our trust is
not in Christ Jesus but ourselves. The responsibility becomes ours to live a
100% perfect life in order to be saved or stay saved – this is a lie. We can in
no way save ourselves. It is utterly impossible! In no way can we contribute to
our salvation. If we think we can keep ourselves from sinning, then we have not
understood just how sinful one is, and are still dependent on law-keeping.
Romans 3:20 says, “For by works of law no human being
will be justified [made perfectly innocent] in his sight, since through the law
comes knowledge of sin.”

Those
who believe we can, of our own selves, keep our salvation, do not understand
that this is impossible. These people do not understand just how far short of
the glory of God they fall. That is, they don’t understand how far short they
come from God’s perfection. You cannot be as perfect as God by your own doing –
you will always fail. It is only by Jesus taking our sin and imparting His
perfection to us that we can stand before the perfectly holy God. It is Jesus
who gives us the victory in our lives – not me.

The Pharisees

Amazingly
the Pharisees themselves had a motto that they could lose their salvation. They
believed they were saved by doing good and by continuing to do good once saved
in order to stay saved. That is why they snubbed their noses at those who
weren’t doing so well spiritually! What’s changed?!

If we
have to keep from sinning, then we are not saved by faith alone. Then we are
saved by faith + works. Again, we find another Catholic doctrine!

Let me
ask, did God come to earth to save us because we lived such good lives, or did
He come because we were sinners? It then stands that God came to save us not
because we were worthy but because He loved us. If then we can lose our
salvation, it shows that God’s love is conditional. But we know that God’s love
is unconditional.

If
Christ’s shed blood is not adequate to save us, then we have put Jesus Christ
on the same value scale as the goats of the Old Testament – sacrifices that
couldn’t take away our sins! Now think about that!

What
then is the requirement for salvation? It is simply believing in Jesus
as our Savior. We cannot add anything to His finished work. If we think we have
to keep from sin in order to not lose our salvation, then we have become our
own savior. We have then become a god and are worthy of worship. Now that is
blasphemy!

The Galatians

These
Jewish Christians had left the system of the Law. They had placed their trust
in Jesus Christ to save them. People argue that these people had now become
lost again. However, these Jewish Christians thought they could add law-keeping
to their new belief and still be under God’s grace. Paul was saying, “You’re
wrong!” If you go back to the Law, you have given up grace – you can’t have
both! It was not a matter of being lost, but a matter of making it clear that
Law has nothing to do with grace. The falling was from grace to law, not
falling from saved to lost.

In
reality Paul the apostle was saying, “Hey look, those Pharisees who believe
that you can lose your salvation by not keeping from sin are wrong. Keep away
from the false teaching of ‘staying away from sin and doing good’ in order to
maintain your salvation.” For it is written, “Yet because of false brothers
[Pharisees] secretly brought in – who slipped in to spy out your freedom
that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring you into slavery
– to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth
of the gospel might be preserved for you.” (Galatians 2:4-5)

This
is the same lie Satan told Adam and Eve. He said, “Yeah, go ahead and eat from
the tree of knowing the right and the wrong; it won’t do any harm.” What a lie,
and it is still a favourite tool of the Devil today. Satan told them that they
could gain “eternal life” by avoiding the wrong and doing
the right. How, I ask, is that different than the teaching that you can keep
being saved when you “avoid the wrong and do the right”? It is precisely the
same lie the Deceiver spoke to Adam and Eve so long ago.

Now,
when a person is saved, they may begin to believe the very lie that the Serpent
tried to entice Eve with. This will bring the Christian into a time of defeat,
depression, and failure. It does not make them lost. The penalty for sin has
already been paid. However, we also should be experiencing victory in our
Christian lives once we’re saved. If we’re not, it shows that we have reverted
back to trying to better ourselves by law-keeping. This will bring sin and
defeat into our practical Christian walk. Only in this will there be a “falling
away.” There will be a “falling away” into law which will in turn bring a lack
of victory in our Christian lives. This does not affect our sin-debt having
been paid. That happened in the past and can’t be undone. Neither can it affect
the third and final stage of our salvation when we are once and for all taken
out of the very presence of sin, when we’re ushered into our eternal
dwellings. We are told that we have a “guaranteed inheritance.” The only part
in question is whether we, in a practical sense, have victory through Christ in
our daily walk, or defeat because we’ve reverted back to self and the law.

The Single Sacrifice

Hebrews
says we have been perfected by a single sacrifice for sins. It is never to be
repeated. If then we can lose our salvation, we would be lost forever without
possibility of being saved again. For it would be necessary for Christ to come
and die again. This, once again, would make a liar out of God! We read, “But
when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down
at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:12) Jesus said,
“It is finished!” and it is just what He meant.

You
may interject with a comment, “But it says we can “drift away”.” Drift away
from what? We must remember who is being addressed and why. Well these were
people who had been Jewish law-keepers and had since gotten saved, who were now
slowly “drifting” back to their old law-keeping ways. They were not “drifting”
into sin as some suppose. Besides, even if it should refer to “drifting” into
sin, God would chastise the person to bring them back into obedience. The
writer of Hebrews is very clear on that point, “For the Lord disciplines the
one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:6) This is
really a very similar situation as to what we found with the Galatians.

The Arguments

We
could go on with all kinds of rebuttals from those who are in unbelief, but the
Scriptures also say this, “There are some things in them [Scriptures] that are
hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own
destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” Don’t think that those who don’t
believe the gospel that gives us eternal life will stop
there. No, they will also “twist” the rest of the Bible “to their own
destruction” and those of their hearers. (2 Peter 3:16)

Remember,
when studying the Bible, never use an obscure verse(s) to interpret the obvious
verses of the Bible.

The Certainty of Salvation

Jesus
said, “I give them eternal life, and they will never
perish.” (John 10:28) If we can lose our salvation then
Jesus is yet again a liar! We also read in John 5:24,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and BELIEVES me HAS eternal life. He does NOT come into judgment, but HAS passed
from death to life.” Once again, if we can lose our salvation, then Jesus is a
pathological liar by now!

Again,
in 1 John 5:13 we read, “I write these things to you who
BELIEVE in the name of the Son of God that you may KNOW that you HAVE eternal life.” It is becoming ever clearer that those who
believe you can lose your salvation don’t believe the gospel. They don’t
believe Jesus is capable of saving them on His own. No, they believe that Jesus
requires our help!

Looking
now to 2 Corinthians 1:21-22. We read, “And it is God
who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also
put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” If we
can lose our salvation, then God has not done His job to establish us. If we
can lose our salvation, then God’s guarantee is no good. What kind of a God is
this? He would be a negligent liar! Do you not see how blasphemous this false
teaching is?!

Then
what about Ephesians 4:30? It says, “And do not grieve
the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” How
can one grieve the Holy Spirit? Is it not by sin? Yet, we are only told not to,
not that we will lose our salvation. To the contrary – that we are “sealed for
the day of redemption.” If that seal can be broken by us, then God has put on a
faulty seal. Not only that, we have made ourselves stronger than God if we
think we can remove His seal. And by the way, that seal is the Holy Spirit
Himself.

Again,
John 3:18 says, “Whoever believes in him is not
condemned.” God attaches no strings. If we believe, we are not condemned. If we
can lose our salvation, then this statement by Jesus is – you guessed it, a
lie!

Listen
to these words carefully that John pens, “Whoever believes in the Son of
God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe has made him a
liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne
concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son HAS life [eternal]; whoever does not have the Son of God DOES NOT have
life [eternal].” 1 John 5:10-12

You
tell me, who is the liar, is it actually God, or is it you who don’t believe?
In Revelation 21:8, it is written, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the
detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and
all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and
sulfur, which is the second death.” If you are teaching that one can lose “eternal life”, then you are a liar.

Adam
and Eve only got the boot from the garden when they decided to believe Satan
and call God a liar, but for those who don’t believe that there is “eternal life…in his Son”, “their portion will be in the lake
that burns with fire and sulfur.”

“Then
he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your
hand, and place in in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas
answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in the book; but these are written so that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you
may have life [eternal] in his name.” (John 20:27-31)

You
see, it is either God’s word, or it is man’s word. Whom will you believe? Will
you believe that God gives you eternal life, or do you
believe that you give yourself eternal life? Understand
that when you say that you can do something to keep yourself saved, that in
reality you are saying that ‘I give myself eternal life’.
And that is just the lie that Satan has been convincing the world of for
thousands of years. Either you will believe Satan or God. Whom will you choose
this day?

The Facts

I want
to make the point that doubt is different than not believing we have eternal life. Of course Satan is going to whisper into our ears
from time to time with a message of doubt. We then turn back to the Scriptures
as did Christ Jesus when tempted, and refute Satan with the FACTS!

You
see, when we look to self, doubt creeps in. Then when we look to Jesus Christ,
we are assured of our salvation. When we look to ourselves, we begin to wonder,
Have I done so and so? However, when we look to Jesus Christ, we
realize that He’s done it all and we can “REST” in HIS “Finished” work.

As we
mature in the faith, we will grow ever more confident in our Savior. As we
study God’s Word the Holy Spirit will show us the things of Jesus Christ and
our trust in Him will multiply. We will also with time see how God is at work
in our own lives and realize that it is by the grace of God alone.

The Joy of Liberty

The
purpose of this testimony is to show the false teachings that kept me in
bondage all those years and how I now enjoy the liberty I have.

Just
for context’s sake, I attended a typical evangelical church.

Now of
course there is always a foundation that one has to start with, and it is the
foundation that is most critical. Jesus taught this in the parable of the
“house builder.” There was one fellow who built on the sand and another who dug
down deep and laid the foundation on the rock. Of course the rock represents
Jesus Christ as our Savior. The sand typifies false ways to be saved, which
ultimately is self-effort.

This
church’s practical teaching says that there are scores of different ways to be
saved. I personally had invited Jesus into my heart. This was good enough for
them. The truth is that I was not saved at all; I just thought I was. I
continued to think for the next 20 or so years of my life that I could lose my
salvation if I didn’t confess my sins and do good. In fact, even under that
meticulous burden, I had no assurance that I was saved, and for good reason – I
wasn’t!

The
truth is that the Bible teaches that there is only 1 way to be saved. All other
ways are false. Jesus said, “I am the way…no man comes to the Father but by
me.” (John 14:6) Paul the apostle in Galatians says that whoever preaches a
different way is accursed. Pretty strong words! You see, either you trust Jesus
as your Savior, or you trust in your own ingenuities to save you. This is what
Cain tried; he brought fruit and veggies and God did not accept Cain’s way.
Cain was building his house on the sand. Abel in turn was building on the rock.
Abel demonstrated, by bringing an animal to sacrifice, that he believed that
Jesus would come one day as “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the
world”, including his sin. No, there is only 1 way to be saved.

When I
came to realize what Jesus did for me, I placed my trust in Him alone as my
Savior, believing that He paid my debt of sin in full – past, present, and
future. Then being truly saved, I had full assurance of being saved and having eternal life. Yes, Satan tried to whisper a little doubt in my
ear from time to time, but I just kept going back to the Scriptures to refute
his lies. Indeed Jesus does offer “rest” for those who come to Him on His
terms. I have received that “rest” He spoke of and it is wonderful!

Not
only have I been delivered from the consequences of sin, God has also in His
mercy liberated me from the power of sin. What a life of rest it is! Now to
await the Savior’s return to deliver every believer from the very presence of
sin! All three aspects of salvation are entered by faith. We cannot of
ourselves get rid of the consequences of our sin, we cannot of our own effort
have power over sin once saved, and neither can we enter Heaven and be free
from the presence of sin by our own doing! All is by faith in God. The instant
we look to ourselves instead of Jesus Christ there will be failure, defeat, discouragement,
depression and problems of all kinds. In Christ is the joy of liberty!

I
fully believe that what the proponents of the “you can lose your salvation”
crowd needs, is NOT assurance but SALVATION! Then when they are truly saved,
and not just religious, then they will have the assurance that they’re saved
and will believe in “eternal life!”

June 08, 2013

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
(ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Contents

His Will

Defining Holiness

God

Sinners to Saints

Exhortations to Be Pure in Conduct

Whom
Do We Belong To?

Grieving
the Holy Spirit

Temple
of God

Becomingly

Not
of the World

Friends
with the World

Children
of Light

How to Live a Holy Life

Temptation

Law or Faith?

Time
with God

God’s Calling On Our Lives

Discipline

The Church of Laodicea

Coming Judgment

The
Ungodly

The
Godly

Rewards

Conclusion

His Will

Let me just say first of all, that I believe much of
the battle below can be avoided by simply accepting God’s will for one’s own
life. See the title “The Royal Road to Victory”, also on this blog site.

Defining Holiness

Let us begin this study by defining what “holy” means. Vine’s defines it
as “separation to God.” The second definition is, “the resultant state, the
conduct befitting those so separated.” Therefore we are called saints.

God

Let us begin with God. It is said of God in Revelation 4:8 that, “Holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” Further,
Hebrews 7:26 says, “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest
[Jesus Christ], holy, innocent, unstained, separated
from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”

Yes, God is holy and
“separated from sinners.” We know too, that we are born into this world as
“sinners.” We were born needing a Savior.

Let us then keep in
mind too, that it is said of God, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong.” (Habakkuk 1:13)

It is also written in
Hebrews 12:28-29 that we should “…be grateful for receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with
reverence and awe, for our God is a
consuming fire.” This is an Old Testament reference from Numbers 11:1-3
where we read, “And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about
their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the
fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the
camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the
fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire
of the LORD burned among them.” Then we also read of God’s “fire” in 2 Thessalonians
1:5-8, “This is evidence of the righteous
judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God,
for which you are also suffering – since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

What we can see from this
is that God is a just God. He cannot overlook sin. We know that sinners must be
punished.

On the other hand, we
have a God who is love. For we read, “He [Jesus Christ] is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only but also for
the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Jesus paid the penalty for everyone’s sin in
“the whole world”. Does this include you? It sure does! All you have to do is
believe it in order to be saved and have eternal life. Again we read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Therefore, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16, 18)

Here we see that God is
indeed a God of love. Are you a person of this world? Of course! Then Jesus
sent His Son to die in your place.

So we see a perfect
balance with God. He is a just God who cannot overlook sin. Yet in being a God
of love, He can’t ignore sin. Sin must be punished. Therefore He sent His Son
to take His just judgment instead of you. If that isn’t love, then there isn’t
even such a thing as love! What this means is that we’re saved from the penalty
of sin.

Sinner to Saint

Now we know that
everyone is born into this world as a sinner. For it is written, “Therefore,
just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

If then, indeed, we are
Christians, we will have come to the realization at some point prior to being
saved that we are, ourselves, a sinner. As such we will also have realized that
we were also helplessly lost, and therefore condemned to the Lake of Fire. In
this progression of thought, we will have come to see the truth of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ that He alone can save us from sins consequences – the
second death.

At the very point in
time that we believed the true gospel we were sanctified “once for all.”
(Hebrews 10:10) That means we were separated unto the Lord, having been made
“clean” by His once for all sacrifice for our very own sin. By God’s grace we
were changed from sinners to saints! For again it is written, “And you, who
were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood
against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
Again, it is written, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.” (Col.2:13-14 & Rom.5:8)

The moment we were
saved we were justified. That means that in God’s sight we have a right
standing. We have been declared righteous, or in other words, innocent. God
will never condemn the saved to hell. You could rightly say “once a son, always
a son”. The relationship never changes.
What an awesome God we serve!

I think it is important
to take the time to look at what happened and what did not happen the moment we
got saved.

Firstly then, the
things that did happen. To start with, we were “reconciled” to God. For we
read, “And you, who once were alienated
and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present
you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” (Colossians 1:21-22) We
see from this portion of Scripture that when we were unsaved we were
“alienated” from God, but that upon believing the gospel, we were “reconciled.”
Very simply put, we were God’s enemies, but now we are friends.

Note, too, that it was
not that God needed to be reconciled to us, but strictly speaking, us to Him.

Further, our masters
changed. We read in Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” We know that we
were under Satan’s thumb before we were saved, and his bidding we did – we were
his slaves. Yet now we have a new master – God’s “beloved Son”! In other words,
we could say we had been redeemed. Titus 2:14 says, “Who [Jesus Christ] gave
himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous of good works.” This verse states
what we were redeemed from and to, and by who, but not how. 1 Peter 1:18-19
says, “Knowing that you were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ, like a
lamb without blemish or spot.” So we know then that we were redeemed by His
blood.

So we could conclude
that we have been delivered from the bondage of our past enslavement to Satan
and sin. We have been freed by Christ and His death so that we can now serve
Jesus Christ and righteousness. To this attests the Scriptures, “But thanks be
to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the
heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been
set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17-18)

Now let us carry on to
what did not happen when we got saved.

Let me ask, have you as
a Christian ever committed a sin? To say, “no” would be a lie, and that would
be a sin! So, yes, of course Christians sin from time to time. Further, are our
bodies already glorified? No, that will happen at a later time. So we see then
that we have not yet been perfected. It stands then that we are sanctified once
for all, in that we have been set apart as wholly belonging to God. However, in
conduct, we are all still in a process of sanctification.

Looking at 1
Thessalonians 4:1-8 we see that there still remains a sanctification in
conduct. We read, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord
Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and please God, just
as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions
we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your
sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you
know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of
lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his
brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as
we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for
impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not
man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” It is quite clear that God has
written this for Christians. He also warns them of the fact that “the Lord is
an avenger in all these things.” Don’t think that just because you’re a
Christian that you can get away with living in sin! It is still a Biblical
principal that you reap what you sow!

2 Corinthians 7:1 also
brings out quite clearly the need for an ongoing work of sanctification. We
read, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” So then there is a need of
“bringing holiness to completion.”

Let us look at one more
example and that will suffice to seal this argument as true. 1 Peter 1:14-21
says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former
ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is
written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each
one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your
exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our
fore fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was
foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last
times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him
from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” Why,
I ask, the exhortation to be “holy” if we already are? Yet, as it says, “in
conduct.” So then, very clearly, there is a difference between the “once for
all” sanctification and the sanctification in “conduct”.

What we saw earlier is
that we were saved from the penalty of sin. What is happening in the Christian
is a gradual freedom from sin’s hold on our lives.

Exhortations to Be Pure in Conduct

Whom Do We Belong To?

Quite plainly, we
belong to the Lord. For 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “…You are not your own, for
you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” We can see then
that we “are not” our “own.” In this age were we don’t understand slavery this
may be a hard concept to grasp, but when we are a slave we belong to whoever
our master is. In this case, as we before discussed, we now belong to our Lord.
He purchased us by His very own blood!

If then, our Master
asks something from us, don’t you think we ought to obey Him?! Yes, so we ought
to. “What then is He asking us to do?” you ask? Quite simply, He is asking us
to be holy. He says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) Not
that this is the only thing He is expecting of us, but it is the subject at
hand, and is a most critical aspect of His will for our lives.

Grieving the Holy Spirit

When it comes to
grieving the Holy Spirit, it is plain that this is addressed to believers. For
we read, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30) Quite obviously, only believers are
indwelt by the Holy Spirit!

Some false teachers today say that when we as Christians sin, that we
don’t need to deal with it. All we need to do is thank God that He’s already
forgiven us that sin and carry on as if nothing happened. I ask, if you’ve hurt
someone, do you think it would be O.K. to just carry on, or do you think it
would be a good idea to mend things? Why then do we think we can just carry on
as if nothing has happened when we’ve “hurt” the Holy Spirit who indwells us by
our sin against Him? It should pain our hearts that we have “hurt” the Holy
Spirit who indwells us – whose temple we are.

Therefore, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Keep in
mind, this is not in regards to our
relationship with God. For once a son, always a son. Rather, this has to do
with fellowship.

Temple of God

Now we read in
2Corinthians 6:16, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are
the temple of the living God…” and again, “Do you not know that you are God’s
temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1
Corinthians 3:16-17)

We see from the above
Scriptures that it is a very serious thing to live a holy life. To think that
God Himself lives in us! Everything we watch, listen to, and partake of, the
Holy Spirit is there with us! To think then that it is said of God, “You who
are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…” (Habakkuk 1:13) And
further, “…let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for
our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

So just how seriously
does God take these things you ask? Looking over to Leviticus 10:1-2 we read,
“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in
it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which
he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed
them, and they died before the LORD.” Then let us turn over to Acts 5:1-11.
Here we read, “…a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold…property, and
with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and
brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said,
‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep
back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?” “Why is it that you have contrived
this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God. When Ananias
heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last…After…about three hours
his wife came in…Peter said to her, ‘Tell me whether you sold the land for so
much.’ And she said, ‘Yes, for so much.’ But Peter said to her, ‘How is it that
you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” “Immediately she fell
down at his feet and breathed her last.” “And great fear came upon the whole
church…”

We see then that at the
beginning of the Levitical system, with all its ceremonies, laws, and priestly
functions – that God wanted to make a point to all the Israelites – I AM A HOLY
GOD. This God did when He destroyed Nadab and Abihu. Then at the very beginning
of the church, we again have God make this same point to the whole church,
including those of the nations, that I AM A HOLY GOD. This time God makes the
point by destroying Ananias and Sapphira.

The question might be
asked, “Were Ananias and Sapphira actually Christians?” Yes, that is quite
apparent from the Scriptures we’re looking at. We also see that “great fear
came upon the whole church.” Why was there “fear” upon the church, if not for
the fact that if they sinned in a similar way the same judgment would come upon
them?

How then, I ask, are we
as believers to conduct ourselves?

Becomingly

Firstly, we read in
Philippians 1:27, “Only let your manner
of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see
you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit,
with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.” Again, let us
read in Ephesians 5:3-4, “But sexual immorality and all impurity or
covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk
nor crude joking, which are out of place,
but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

You say, “Why should I
care whether my life is lived in a ‘worthy’ or ‘proper’ ‘manner’?” Well, I ask
you, would you like to stand before God come judgment day with the cookie
crumbs of sin around your mouth?

Again, do you not call
Christ Jesus, Lord? Yet then, He being your Master, why do you not do the
things He asks of you? Following the verses we just read in Ephesians, we read,
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath
of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers
with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light.”
(vs’s 6-8)

Not of the World

James says simply, “to
keep oneself unstained from the world.” (1:27) Then John writes, “Do not love
the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the
flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life – is not from the Father
but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires,
but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17) What does
John mean by all these kinds of “desires”? Well, I believe Peter answers these
things very well in 1 Peter 4:1-4, where it says, “Since therefore Christ
suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for
whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the
rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that
is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality,
passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With
respect to this they are surprised when
you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.”

Let us look at one more
portion of Scripture before we bring a conclusion to this particular segment.
Looking over then to Romans 6:20-23, we read, “For when you were slaves of sin,
you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at
that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things
is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves
of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”

We see then quite
simply that a true believer does not continue to live a life of sin. In fact
the latter verses tell us that the believer is “ashamed” of their former
conduct. A question mark could be put over any professing believer who
continues in sinful habits, hordes wealth, does not love the fellowship of
believers, or brags about themselves and what they’ve accomplished.

Truly the believer has
no business being a part of the world. For if the world is hostile toward God,
why would we want any part in it? Keep in mind that it was the world that had
our Savior crucified! In fact, the world is going to be receiving the payment
of “death” for its wicked behavior! Therefore, “…test everything; hold fast
what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

Friends with the World (James 4:4)

Very closely tied to
the above, is the aspect of being friends with members of the world. We look to
2Corinthians 6:14-17 for the proof. There we read, “Do not be unequally yoked
with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or
what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or
what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the
temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God…Therefore go
out from their midst, and be separate
from them, says the Lord.” Plainer words could not be read, we should not
make friendships with people of the world. How can there be any common ground?
For they are haters of God, being opposed to Him. How can one hold hands with
the enemy? The words “unequally yoked” refers to either having two different
animals in one yolk, or even the crossbreeding of two different kinds of
animals. Clearly not seen as a good thing. So then you will essentially have
one animal pulling toward the world that leads down the path of destruction and
hell, and the other feebly pulling away toward the narrow path that leads to
eternal life. Quite clearly though, “…the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
(Proverbs 12:26b) Possibly in an even clearer way Paul writes, “Do not be
deceived: Bad company ruins good morals.” (1Cor.15:33) When one becomes a
friend with one from the enemy’s camp, one tends to withhold one’s testimony in
order to maintain the friendship – this is called hiding your light under the
lampstand, or being ashamed of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Let us look once more
at the words written in Ephesians 5:6-17. We read, “Let no one deceive you with
empty words, for because of these things
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become
partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in
the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all
that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the
Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful
works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to
speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the
light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.
Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will
shine on you.’ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be
foolish…” I don’t think much more needs to be said! Let us simply heed these
words of our Lord.

Children of Light

We’ve already seen that
we ought to “walk as children of light.” We saw that we should refrain from
being friends or “partners” with those who are of the world. In fact we were
told to “expose them.”

On the other hand, we
are still to be “children of light.” So even if we are not friends with them,
it does not mean that we ignore the people of the world. Even if we “expose
them” for their wickedness, we are still to be “children of light” before them.
So how, is the question? Let us turn to Matthew 5:14-16 to get the ball rolling
on this one. We read, “‘You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill
cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on
a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your
light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory
to your Father who is in heaven.’” Therefore it stands that if we hide our
light from before people that they won’t “give glory to your Father who is in
heaven.” What a shame that would be! Then let us be as Paul the apostle, who
stated in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power
of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” So then let us not hide the
fact that we’re Christians. Let us not hide the fact that we love our Lord who
gave His life so that we could gain eternal life. Besides, how loving is it to not
warn the people of the consequences of sin? How much do we really care about
others if we don’t tell them of our Savior who alone can save them?

How to Live a Holy Life

Temptation

First off, let us look
at James 1:13-15. We read, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being
tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no
one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully
grown brings forth death.”

What we see then, is
that God does not tempt people to sin. In the garden that was in Eden, we saw
that it was Satan who tempted Adam and Eve. Satan’s advertisement appealed to
Adam and Eve and they consequently fell for the lie. It is no different today.

Now let us go to 1Corinthians
10:13, where it says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to
man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,
but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be
able to endure it.”

We see from this
passage that God will not leave us in a lurch. Rather, God in His kindness has
provided a “way of escape” in every situation. Again, in the garden, God had
provided a “way of escape” – “the tree of life”. Yet Adam and Eve chose not to
take that “way of escape”.

Let us now go over to
the book of Hebrews, starting with chapter two and verse eighteen. We read,
“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who
are being tempted.”Looking ahead
then to chapter four, verses fifteen and sixteen, we read, “For we do not have
a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in
every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with
confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.”

This ought to give us a
lot of comfort. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ has been tempted too, and
yet never sinned. In fact, we read earlier that “God cannot be tempted with
evil.” (Jam.1:13) Yet, He still went through all those different temptations.
Therefore He knows the hardship of going through those things and we can
therefore count on Him to avert falling into these temptations when we cry out
to Him to deliver us. In fact, the Lord’s Prayer ends by saying, “And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)

Law or Faith?

So just exactly how are
we to become holy in all conduct once we’ve become Christians? Are we perfected
by the Law, a form of will-power? Are we to just keep trying, trying, trying,
or is there a different way that God has in mind for us?

Let us look at
Galatians 3:1-6. There it is written, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched
you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as
crucified. Let me ask you only this: did you receive the Spirit by works of the
law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Did you suffer so many things in vain – if indeed it was in vain? Does he who
supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the
law, or by hearing with faith – just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was
counted to him as righteousness’?

So what can we take
from this? Well, it is quite plain that by attempting to perfect ourselves
after we’re saved by following some set of laws is no more beneficial than
trying to get saved through a system of rules! Clearly the Holy Spirit has a
role to play in seeing us being born on to perfection and maturity.

Further, let us look at
Titus 2:11-14. Here we read, “For the grace
of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people, training
us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our
great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to
purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good
works.”

Let us also at this
time take a look at 1 John 3:1-3. Here we read, “See what kind of love the
Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved,
we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we
know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he
is. And everyone who thus hopes in him
purifies himself as he is pure.”

What we see here so
significantly, is the “grace of God.” We can see that by God’s grace, He has
given all people the opportunity to be saved. We also know that we are saved by
His grace. For we read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a
result of works, so that no one may boast.” So we see that God’s grace appeared
by the sending of His Son to be the payment for our sin, so that by believing this
to be true, we are saved.

We also see that Christ
“redeem[ed] us” from a life of bondage to sin. In fact Paul the apostle says,
“But by the grace of God I am what I am…” (1Corinthians 15:10)

So how did this come
about you ask? Well, if we turn over to Romans 5:21 and read on down to 6:14,
we will find the answer. I would suggest that you take your Bible and read this
portion in its entirety. However, to keep things to the point, I’ll only select
a part of this text. We read, “…as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign
through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
This simply means that a life of sin leads to the second death – the Lake of
Fire. On the other hand grace leads to “eternal life.” Continuing on to chapter
six, we read, “…How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know
that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life…We
know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin
might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For
one who has died has been set free from sin…We know that Christ, being
raised from the dead, will never die again, death no longer has dominion over
him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives
he lives to God. So you also must
consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not
present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have
been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for
righteousness. For sin will have no
dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

What grace! Our old
identity is gone! Law and sin have been defeated by Christ Himself. We are now
free to serve God! So what are you waiting for?! We are told to “consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

If, however, you think
that law and rules will keep you from sinning as a believer, Paul has these
words for you, “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the
law, for ‘The righteous shall live by
faith’.” (Galatians 3:11)

Lastly, we saw that the
person who looks for the coming of Christ “purifies” themselves. When a person
is looking for, and yearning for, the coming of Christ, it has a purifying
effect on one’s life.

Time with God

So often we hear that
we should be reading the Bible and praying. Yet it often seems like nothing
more than a chore. Now it is true, that if we are not saved, that it will be
nothing more than a going through the motions of some empty religious rosary.
No, it is not just something we must do, and then collect our brownie points
when we’re done. Reading our Bible, in reality, is how we grow to maturity as
believers. In this way God can speak to us from His Word.

We need to be familiar
with God’s Word in order that we’re not led astray by the smooth speaking of false
teachers. For example, how do you know what is counterfeit money, if you don’t
even know what the genuine looks like? How important to really know God’s Word
with all the false teaching out there today! Therefore we read, “Now the Jews
were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all
eagerness, examining the Scriptures
daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Let us look at 1 Peter
2:2. It reads, “As newborn babes desire the pure soul-nourishing milk, that you
may grow by it; if indeed you ‘tasted’ ‘that the Lord is kind’.” (KJ3) We see
here that a “newborn” Christian has “’tasted’ that the Lord is good.” Therefore
as a “newborn” they would naturally “desire” the “soul-nourishing milk” in
order that they “may grow by it” to maturity.

On the other hand, if a person doesn’t care to spend time in God’s Word,
it may well show that they’re not true Christians to begin with. For just as it
would be very unnatural for a newborn baby to not want milk, so it would be
just as unnatural for a Christian to not want “the pure soul-nourishing milk” –
God’s Word. Why would we want to remain baby Christians?

Ephesians 4:13 says we are to grow “to mature manhood.” This, “that we
no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who
is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by
every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly,
makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (4:14-16)

Now as regards prayer, God makes a very straightforward statement. He
says, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Prayer is an essential
part of the Christian life. Can you imagine a child in a home never asking for
anything at all?! Of course as parents we would love to give our children
things! So our Heavenly Father would also love to lavish us with His treasures!
Our God is not stingy as some would think, but is generous! However, keep in
mind the words of James, who writes, “You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight
and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not
receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous
people!” (James 4:2-4) So then, if we’re praying according to God’s will, the
answer to our prayers will always be yes.

Prayer is an essential
part of our Christian life. We must be able to communicate with God. We speak
to Him of our shortcomings. Of our need for Him to mold us according to His
will. For our hearts to express our thanksgiving toward our God. We are also exhorted
to pray for our enemies. We are to pray for many different peoples and
situations. In short, prayer is critical.

Finally, to neglect
reading God’s Word and prayer is to refuse to let God be at work in our lives.
It is telling God, “I’m not interested in You”. It is like saying, “Thanks for
saving me, God, but now I don’t want You to be part of my life. I’d just rather
go on living my life according to my own will and passions. So please butt out,
God!” This will leave us stunted as
believers. In this way we greatly grieve the Holy Spirit wherewith we are
sealed.

God’s Calling On Our Lives

Let us look at several
verses regarding God’s desire for our lives. The first we’ll look at is
Ephesians 1:3-4. Here we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless
before him…” This then is God’s will for our lives, “that we should be holy
and blameless before him.”

Further to this, we
read in Hebrews 9:13-14, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the
sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the
purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our
conscience from dead works to serve the
living God.”

So then, not only are
we to “be holy and blameless”, we are also to “serve the living God.”

Romans 12:1-2 puts it this way,
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Let us examine verse
one first. We see the “appeal” is “by the mercies of God.” We must remember
that it is by God’s mercy that we have been forgiven and have received eternal
life. Therefore it is completely reasonable that we “present” our “bodies as a
living sacrifice”. The Greek sense is that it is a once for all act. So this is
something we should set out to do once and for all. We also need to believe
that God accepts us as a “living sacrifice.” This is a sacrificing of one’s
entire life to God. It is a life of service to Him.

Now verse two. The
world still holds a lure to us as Christians – we must resist that lure by
looking continually to God for deliverance. (Look at the section called
“Temptation.”) So then, rather than cave to the world, we are to have our minds
renewed. In my mind, this is accomplished by habitually reading God’s Word and
praying. Thus by putting into practice the things we read in the Bible, we will
by use, find out the value of what God has written for us. I fully believe that
we’ll find it priceless!

Discipline

So what then if a Christian chooses to disobey God? Does it matter if we
keep on sinning? It certainly does! Let us look to Hebrews 12:3-17. This is a
lengthy section of verses, but so very, very critical to understand. It reads,
“Consider him [Jesus Christ] who endured from sinners such hostility against
himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle
against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And
have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

‘My son, do not regard lightly
the discipline of the Lord,

nor be weary when reproved by him.

For the Lord disciplines the one
he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.’

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as
sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in
which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides
this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them.
Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they
disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may
share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant, but later it yields the
peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and
make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of
joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one
will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God;
that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become
defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his
birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to
inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though
he sought it with tears.”

What do we learn from
this passage? Well, we learn that Christ’s struggle against sin was so great
that His blood was shed. The point is, you have not yet struggled against sin
to the point where your blood has been shed.

Further, the fact that
God disciplines us proves that we are His legitimate children. For it says that
God does not discipline us if we are not His children. Not only that, it is
“for our good.” Of course the discipline is painful at the time, but it has its
reward – holiness. The Lord refers to it as a training course. To think that
the Lord Himself is training His children – us – to be holy! Wow, that is
simply amazing! This is God’s aim for your life – is it yours?

We started off this
article by seeing that God is perfectly holy. We followed that by showing how
sinful mankind is. Once we were saved God started the process of sanctification
in our lives in order to bring us to the point of absolute holiness so that we
could live forever in His very presence! So now when we think of God’s
discipline and our hardships, we can see that it is indeed for our good! For we
will, because of those things, be able to spend all of eternity with our Holy
God!

We are told that
“without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Sadly, Esau didn’t care about
being holy, he only wanted the blessings. So it is today, many want a free
ticket to Heaven, but don’t care about holiness. Thus they’re never saved in
the first place, but simply walk away from it all just like the rich young
ruler in Matthew 19:16-22.

The Church of Laodicea

This church thought they had it altogether. They thought themselves as
“rich”, as having “prospered”, and having “need” of “nothing”. (Revelation 3:17)
Yet, how very mistaken they were. Jesus said that in reality they were,
“wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” A greater contrast there couldn’t
be!

This church fits the
time era we live in today, and sadly, this is the state of the church of today
– especially in the western hemisphere. This same attitude of pride is present
in our churches now. It is an attitude of, “What do you mean?! Don’t you know
that I’m a Christian?! I go to church, I pray, I read my Bible, I tithe, I’m
involved in this and this and this!” Yes, but Jesus Christ says this, “… not
realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Therefore
He continues, by saying, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so
that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and
the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so
that you may see. Those whom I love, I
reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the
door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to
him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on
my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation
3:17-22)

Even so it is now. We
live in a time when one can hardly tell the difference between the saved and
the unsaved in the church. Yes, that is how “lukewarm” we have become. We might
be very busy for the Lord, but are we genuinely serving the Lord according to
the truth of His Word? Do we really care about the things of the Lord, or are
we simply occupied with our own lives and how we can get ahead in this world?

Coming Judgment

The Ungodly

That Jesus Christ is
coming to judge the world, there is no question. Jude writes in verses 14b-15,
“’Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in
such an ungodly way, and of all the
harsh things that ungodly sinners
have spoken against him.’”

What then will be the
outcome of these ungodly ones? Well, 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10a says this, “…when
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do
not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They
will suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
might, when he comes on that day…”

Here is a very clear
set of verses as to the final state of the ungodly, which is all who are not
true Christians. We read, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was
seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found
for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and
books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And
the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they
had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the
second death, the lake of fire. And if
anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the
lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-12, 14-15)

What then will it be
like in this place? Matthew 13:47-50 describes it in like this, “…the kingdom
of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every
kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good
into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age.
The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw
them into the fiery furnace. In that
place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And again, Luke 16:28
speaks of this place as a “place of
torment.” Revelation 21:8
describes some of the “torment” in this way, “’…their portion [the ungodly]
will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’”
Cleary, this is no party place, but rather a place of continual agony.

The Godly

What, then, is in store
for the true Christian? This is the description we find in Revelation 21:1-8,
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the
dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be
his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away
every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed
away.’”

Wow! What an amazing
future for the believer! What a sharp contrast we have between the sinner’s and
the saint’s future. Romans 6:23 simply describes it like this, “For the wagesof sin is death, but the free
giftof God is eternal lifein
Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We could conclude then,
that when a sinner is saved, they are saved from the penalty of sin. Then as a
Christian they are being perfected – gradually being freed from sin in their
lives. Then when we finally enter God’s presence for eternity we are freed
entirely – even from the very presence of sin!

Rewards

Let us be clear right
from the outset that these rewards for the Christian have absolutely nothing
whatsoever to do with salvation. These rewards have strictly to do with our quality
of work as a believer.

Some Christians seem to
think that it doesn’t matter how we live our lives. They say, “We’re saved
anyway, so what will it matter? Aren’t we all going to heaven?”

Well, let everyone who
calls themselves by the name of “Christian” think on this, “So whether we are
at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians
5:9-10)

Prior, we learned about
the “great white throne judgment” for the unsaved. Now we learn about “the
judgment seat of Christ” for Christians. Here the quality of our work will be
put to the test, and each will be rewarded accordingly.

Let us begin with 1 Corinthians
3:5 and carry on down to verse fifteen. We read, “What then is Apollos? What is
Paul? Servants through whom you
believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the
growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field. God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me,
like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building
upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a
foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone
builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw –
each one’s work will become manifest,
for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire
will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has
built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is
burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as
through fire.”

What a day of revelation
that will be! Some will certainly receive great reward, and others “will suffer
loss.” Therefore as the apostle writes, “Let each one take care how he builds
upon it.” Keep in mind, too, that we are referred to as “servants” and that we
aren’t “anything.” Rather it is God who is working in and through us to His
glory and honor! Indeed, all the glory goes to God!

This particular reward
has to do strictly with the church itself. It has reference to things like
evangelism, church planting, teaching, and shepherding. Indeed this is a
serious task not to be taken lightly. Hence the attached warning, “Do you not
know that you [plural] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you
[plural]? If anyone destroys God’s temple [the church] God will destroy him.
For God’s temple is holy, and you [plural] are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
No doubt, God will “destroy” the wolf that seeks to “destroy” His church.

Further, Paul the
apostle writes in 1 Corinthians 4:5, when “the Lord comes, who will bring to
light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the
heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

Just think! God is
going to reveal all the motives of our hearts! Oh, no wonder the Psalmist
prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And
see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
(Psalm 139:23-24)

Let us now look at
these rewards that are given in the form of “crowns.”

The first crown we want
to look at is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 and is related to the sections
in 1 Corinthians we just finished looking at. We read, “Do you not know that in
a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you
may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it
to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable.
So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air. But I
discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I
myself should be disqualified.”

The disqualification is
in reference to receiving the “imperishable” crown, not salvation; rather, it
has to do with rewards. So then let us “not run aimlessly”, let us not be ones
“beating the air”. Let us rather, “…lay aside every weight, and sin which
clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Let us carry on to the
second mention of crowns. We find it in 1 Thessalonians 2:19, where Paul writes
to the Thessalonicans, “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before
our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.”
Indeed, how very precious are loved ones! Whom would you rather have in heaven
with you in the presence of the Lord than your loved ones?! Indeed, what a
reward!

Continuing now to 2 Timothy
4:7-8, we have Paul speaking again. This time he writes, “I have fought the
good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who
have loved his appearing.”

Here we find Paul the
aged, near the end of his life (see verse 6). We find that he has indeed so run
in the race as to obtain the “imperishable” crown. He is victorious! Why? He
has “kept the faith”. Now, not only will this reward be given to him, but to
all who keep “the faith”. By God’s grace Paul the apostle was saved, and he
faithfully passed on the pure gospel message to all who would listen. In this
he was faithful, and hence he would receive his reward.

Moving then to James
1:12, we read, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when
he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God promised to
those who love him.” This crown may simply refer to “eternal life”. Yet what an
amazing reward! Just think of it, eternally in the presence of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ together with all the holy ones!

On we go to 1Peter
5:1-4. We read, “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is
going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising
oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not
domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And
when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

It is so important for
those who are shepherds of the flock to remember that we should lead by example. We should not drive the flock in a “domineering” way.
We need to remember that we, too, have a Shepherd over us, and we will have to
answer to Him on Judgment Day. Yet for those who are faithful in these things
there will be the reward of “the unfading crown of glory.”

Conclusion

What do we conclude from these things then? Well, we know that God is
perfectly holy. God has never sinned, and it is impossible for Him to sin. He
is blameless, spotless, perfect and therefore – holy.

Mankind on the other
hand, fell into sin from the outset and has been sinning ever since. The fact
being that we’re born sinners and of course sinners sin just as much as dogs
bark or bees visit flowers.

Therefore mankind is
under the judgment of God. However God in His loving mercy sent His only Son –
Jesus Christ, to be punished instead of us. If then we believe this, we are
pardoned. That is we will not perish by being cast into the “lake of fire” for
all eternity, but will rather gain “eternal life.” In this way we are freed
from the penalty of sin.

We also saw that, as
believers, we have not yet been made perfect, but that rather we still stumble
in many ways. Therefore we know that God is still in the process of perfecting
us. Therefore the call to be holy.

Finally,
we saw that there will be a judgment in the “last Day”. The wicked will be cast
into the “lake of fire” for their sins – for they refused to believe what God
did for them through the sacrifice of His Son for their sins. The righteous, on
the other hand, will go into the eternal dwellings that God Himself has
prepared for them. At that point we will be completely free from sin – even the
very presence of sin!